From Mohd Yusof SaariPHNOM PENH, Feb 20 (Bernama) -- Malaysia is prepared to share its expertise with Cambodia to develop the rubber plantation sector and padi processing in that country, said Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
The Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister said that as a country with fertile land and extensive padi plantation, Cambodia hoped to seek Malaysia's expertise in these fields and the request had been made by Cambodia's Prime Minister, Hun Sen himself.
"There is strong interest here for us to participate in the rubber plantation as they have suitable agricultural areas with fertile land for us to develop.
"Cambodia too has extensive padi land with production exceeding five million tons annually, but they don't have the capacity to process them because of the lack of rice mills," he said at a media conference on the first day of his three-day official visit to Cambodia at his hotel, here today.
Earlier, Muhyiddin made a courtesy call on Hun Sen at his office at the Peace Palace, Russian Boulevard here, followed by a meeting with Cambodia's Minister of Education, Youth and Sports, Dr Hang Chuon.
The Deputy Prime Minister said he had informed Hun Sen that several parties including the Federal Land Consolidation & Rehabilitation Authority (Felcra), which has vast experience in the industry, had expressed its interest to explore the rubber industry in Cambodia.
In padi processing, he said Padiberas Nasional Berhad (Bernas) had also initiated measures to hold discussions with the relevant parties to explore the market and set up rice processing mills and other by-products in that country.
Muhyiddin said the lack of factories, warehouses and packing facilities had resulted in Cambodia losing about three million tons of processed rice because a major portion of the padi harvested had been sold without being processed.
He said the meeting had also opened up business opportunities to industry players such as electric power generation, infrastructure and highway construction which had received special attention from the Cambodian government.
"I notice that the potentials for trade, investment and cooperation in various fields in Cambodia is very encouraging, and what is even more encouraging, Prime Minister Hun Sen himself is very keen to establish cooperation with us," he said.
Meanwhile, during bilateral discussions between the Education Ministry and Dr Hang, Muhyiddin also represented Malaysia in signing the memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation in the field of higher education between the two countries.
Commenting on the MoU, Muhyiddin said it would enable a wider work scope to be drawn up beginning with pre-school right up to higher education and thus boosting further the quality and standard of education in both countries.
The Deputy Prime Minister said among the types of cooperation that could be explored were teacher training, curriculum development, inter-university research, and providing places for technical training for Cambodian students in Malaysia.
He said efforts too were being taken to implement credit transfers between public institutions of higher learning (IPTA) in Malaysia and Cambodia.
"In terms of education, Prime Minister Hun Sen wants us to train more (Cambodian students) besides giving accreditation and credit transfers for certain courses carried out in their universities here," he added.
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